The Beatles were constantly at the top of the charts during the 1960s. They had 20 No. 1 hit singles and multiple No. 1 albums. Since The Beatles were constantly at the top, it blocked others from reaching that goal and even prevented a song written by Paul McCartney from becoming a No. 1 single.
The Beatles rejected Paul McCartney’s ‘I’ll Be on My Way’
Paul McCartney and John Lennon were a dynamic songwriting duo that led The Beatles to become global superstars. However, not every song they wrote was instant gold. A few of their songs were rejected by The Beatles, and other artists often collected and reused their recycling. For example, McCartney wrote “A World Without Love” for The Beatles, but Lennon disliked it, and they gave it to Peter and Gordon.
In the early days of The Beatles, McCartney wrote “I’ll Be on My Way”, a song that the band never officially recorded, but they did play it live a few times. A Live at the BBC was released in 1994. The track was ultimately rejected because Lennon wasn’t fond of it, but McCartney did like it, even though he understood why it was turned down.
“It’s a little bit too June-moon for me, but these were very early songs, and they worked out quite good,” McCartney told Barry Miles in Many Years From Now.
Billy J. Kramer’s version didn’t reach No. 1 due to The Beatles
After “I’ll Be on My Way” was rejected, it was picked up by Billy J. Kramer, an English singer who recorded several hits with Lennon-McCartney compositions that The Beatles never recorded. Brian Epstein also managed him, so Epstein would pass along whatever The Beatles rejected. His debut single was a cover of a Beatles song, “Do You Want to Know a Secret?” first released on their debut album, Please Please Me.
Kramer’s version of “I’ll Be on My Way” was released as the B-side to “Do You Want to Know a Secret?” The single peaked at No. 2 on the U.K. charts and didn’t reach No. 1 thanks to The Beatles. Their 1963 single “From Me to You” reached No. 1 on the U.K. charts and prevented Kramer’s single from reaching No. 1. While Paul McCartney helped Kramer move up the charts, he also stopped him from reaching the top.
McCartney wrote a few hits for other artists
Paul McCartney didn’t need his name or The Beatles to write hit songs. In 1966, McCartney wrote “Woman” for Peter and Gordon. However, he wanted to see if he could get a song to be a hit without his byline attached, so he used Bernard Webb as a pseudonym. While it wasn’t a No. 1 single, it was a minor hit, peaking at No. 28 in the U.K. and No. 14 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100.
McCartney and Lennon also teamed up to write “I Wanna Be Your Man”, a song they gave to The Rolling Stones. This became the Stones’ first big hit in the U.K., helping them compete against their main musical rival, who also happened to give them the song.
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